The president of Joe Fresh is taking over the helm of sibling luxury retailer Holt Renfrew, having been credited with helping to turn around the performance of Loblaw’s in-house apparel brand over the past two years.

CNW Group/Holt Renfrew

The move comes as Mark Derbyshire steps down from his role as president of Holts after seven years. Derbyshire will run the company until Grauso completes his transition in September, the retailer said.

“There are few senior leaders of Mario’s pedigree and proven track record of success in the luxury retail space, and we are delighted that he will bring his extensive experience to the leadership of Holt Renfrew,” Galen Weston, chairman and owner of Holt Renfrew, said in a statement.

“Throughout his career leading some of the world’s most successful brands, Mario has demonstrated a superior ability to continually innovate and add value and we look forward to exciting new opportunities under his leadership to build on our premier position as a leading luxury retailer,” added Weston, who also serves as executive chairman of George Weston Ltd., the parent company of Loblaw Cos.

Grauso was president of Vera Wang Group before joining Loblaw as chief operating officer of Joe Fresh in 2013, and he took on the role of president the following July.

“It would be premature for me to comment on the work ahead, but I’m very excited to go back to my roots in luxury fashion and I have always admired Holts,” Grauso said in an email Thursday.

Grauso was credited with winnowing down the fast fashion brand’s vast assortment inside Loblaw stores, exiting unproductive square footage and spearheading Joe Fresh’s international expansion into the Middle East, Mexico and the Philippines.

He also oversaw the closures of the brand’s standalone stores in New York, a dream expansion launched five years ago by his predecessor, Joe Fresh’s creator and founder, Joe Mimran. But the banner failed to catch on in the hypercompetitive U.S. market, and a deal to sell the J.C. Penney brand also wound down earlier this year.

“We’ve had a string of wins based on tough decisions,” Grauso said. “Many have been behind the scenes and many have been visible on our racks. The numbers tell us two things: Customers like our product and our business-wide streamlining has worked.”

In 2015, Joe Fresh’s same-store sales in Canada grew more than five per cent, double the rate of the prior two years.

Grauso is optimistic about new opportunities in wholesale arrangements, citing positive customer response to Joe Fresh at Nordstrom Rack stores in the U.S., where Loblaw struck a new wholesale distribution agreement for the brand after exiting J.C. Penney.

In addition to his role at Vera Wang, Grauso has worked in executive roles at Céline, Calvin Klein and Giorgio Armani.